Improvement in clothes-washers



W. PATTER Clothes-WEL l No. 205,500. Patented july 2,1878.

5 La "'l 'UNIIED STATES lPn'rnrrr OFFICE.

VILLIAM FATTERSOF, OF CJNSTANTINE, MICHIGAN.

IMPROVEMENT IN CLOTHES-WASHERS.l

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N0. 265,500, (lated July 2, 1878; application filed May 11, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, WILLIAM PATTERSON, of Constantine, in the county of St. Joseph and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clothes-Washers; and I do herebydeclare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanyin g drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

The washer which I have invented, as made for use, is of a diameter nearly as great as that of the wash-tub, and is operated by a short handle to give it a rocking motion merely, as contradistinguished from a pounding motion.v

lIhe effect of the ordinar I clothes-pounder is obtained generally by a small hollow cone provided with various suction or air-compressing devices, and operated by a long handle, to pound and be withdrawn. This requires considerable exert-ion, especially the upstroke or withdrawal, while with my washer there need only be a slight pressure and rock-` ing force.

I am aware, however, that I am not the first to have invented a rocking clothespounder, because devices of this nature have been heretofore patented. Nevertheless, I have made a decided improvement in the construction of such devices, looking to better results.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l represents an elevation of my improved clothes-washer as placed in the tub for washing; Fig. 2, a bottom view, showing the rocker-ridge; and Fig. 3, a cross-section, showing more clearly the diametrical rocker-ridge.

The washer is of peculiar construction, and can only be briefly described by stating that itconsists of two hollow side chambers, A B, the bases of which are inclined toward a meeting ridge, C, which acts as a rocker, whereby, when the device is operated by the handle D, the base of each side chamber will alternately rest upon the clothes in the process of washing. This handle D is not a long pole, but merely a grasp-rod by which to manipulate and rock the washer, and is of wood or other suitable material, secured in a tubular projection, a, rising from the central part of the ridge, and supported by a brace, b, crossing from chamber to chamber a-t the top, as shown.

The semicircular inner walls of the chambers are provided with suction-cones, e e, having holes f for the air and Water to escape into the air-compressing chambers g g upon the clothes, while the inclined Walls, which meet at the rocker-ridge C, are each provided with an adjacent suction-cone, h, of similar construction, to form central suction-chambers.

The operation of the washer is as follows: Being placed in the tub containing the clothes to be washed, and which are soaped and well saturated with water, it is rocked to and fro in the same direction in such manner as to bring the bases of the chambers A B alternately in the plane of the tubs contents upon the clothes.

The suction devices and air-compressing chamber have the well-known effect of sucking the water and air and discharging it upon the clothes, and this by a rocking motion, as described.

The position of the device can be changed from time to time by turning it, as it were, on its axis.

rlhe diametrical rocker ridge is a most important feature of the invention, since it permits a whole semicircular suction-space to work upon the clothes at once, to be immediately followed by the action of a similar semicircle.

In Figs. l and 3 the cross-brace is shown as being in sections, and it may be constructed so that the bases of the chambers may be deflected to a greater or less angle, it' desired; butin such case the tubular proiection a joins the ridge C, and not the chamberbacks.

I claiml. A clothes-washer consisting of two chambers, A B, with inclined bases, and each provided with suction devices, a diametrieitll In testimony that l claim the foregoing I rocker-ridge, C, and ai handle, D, substauhave znfxed my signature in the presence of tizdly as described. v two Witnesses.

2. In a. clothes-washer consisting of two chambers meeting at a. dametrieznl rockerridge, the combination of the suotioueoues e e l.md h h With air-compressing chambers Titnessesz g g, zuid a handle by which to rook the Washer, THOS. HARRISON,

as and for the purpose described. GRAS. H. BARRY, J r.

VILLIAM PATTERSON. 

